Fitchburg girl is found in North Carolina

FITCHBURG -- The search for 6-year-old Alize Whipple ended Saturday afternoon when she was found safe in a relative's home in Shelby, N.C.

Her noncustodial mother, Leanna Wilson, 50, of 47 Normandy Road, Fitchburg, was taken into custody.

Wilson is being held without bail on charges of kidnapping of a minor by a parent and reckless endangerment of a child pending her release to officials in Massachusetts. Her daughter will be staying in a foster home tonight, but what will happen next is unclear.

Alize was last seen at 4 p.m. Wednesday on Normandy Road.

Alize Whipple, 6, signs her name at the Shelby, N.C., Police Station after being removed from a home in town. COURTESY PHOTO

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It is believed Wilson was informed Wednesday that she would be losing custody of her daughter and it appears that is what triggered the chain of events.

Police issued an Amber Alert Friday night and said they had reason to believe Wilson would harm the girl. Worcester District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said in a press conference at the Fitchburg Police Station Saturday that the Amber Alert was not issued until Friday because the case did not meet the threshold required for it to be issued until then.

The circumstances surrounding how Wilson was found remained unclear Saturday night. Early said at approximately 2:30 p.m. detectives in Massachusetts contacted the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department in North Carolina and asked them to check out a home at 1221 Yarn Mill Road in Shelby.

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On arrival an hour later, officers asked the person who answered the door if Wilson and her daughter were there and they were. Earlier in the day, Wilson placed a call to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families but it is unclear why. Early would not elaborate on whether that phone call was traced to the home or not.

He would also not elaborate on the relationship between Wilson and the relative whose home she was at.

Leanna Wilson

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Early did say DCF has been involved with Wilson since the 1990s, but would not provide more details other than to say there have been allegations of abuse in the past.

A blue 1996 Buick Century sought in the abduction was found empty late Friday night in Leominster. Early did say Wilson traveled to North Carolina via car but did not say if someone helped her travel over state lines.

Wilson called the Sentinel & Enterprise about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday and left a message. She said she wanted to speak with someone about how children were being taken away from their families for no reason and being put in state custody.

Multiple attempts to reach her by phone after the message was left were unsuccessful.

Alize Whipple

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Neighbors of Wilson's say they hadn't seen anything physically wrong with Alize.

Kristen Capen lives directly next door to Wilson and said if there was physical abuse, it was covered up.

"She (Whipple) seemed happy, for the most part. She never seemed upset and there were no obvious signs of violence I could see," she said.

Capen said she and Wilson would share casual conversation while waiting for the school bus to drop the children off from Reingold Elementary School. Capen remembers a recent conversation where Wilson said she was upset that the Department of Children and Families would not allow her move to South Carolina with Alize.

Capen said Wilson also told her officials at the school reported her to DCF twice, once right before Christmas vacation and once this past Monday.

"She was pretty angry they would report her for something. She said she couldn't understand why they would do something like that," said Capen, who said she was not told anything more about the complaints. "I know she (Alize) had a lot of absences from school."

Capen also recalls Wilson constantly yelling at Alize.

"We share a wall and I could always hear noise like yelling and screaming and crying," she said. "I never saw anything happen. I wasn't surprised when I heard this happened. DCF has been knocking on my door constantly this week asking questions."

Fitchburg police also spent time inside Wilson's home Saturday morning, she said, but she didn't know what they found or what they were looking for.

Follow Katina Caraganis on Tout and Twitter @kcaraganis.
The message Leanna Wilson left in our newsroom earlier this week. She did not return our calls back Thursday:

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